Doctor Who Series 10: 7 Big Questions We're Asking After 'The Lie Of The Land'
6. Is This The Last We've Seen Of The Monks?
The Monks may have just skulked off after their hold over
humanity had been broken, but it’s unlikely that speculation about their
identity will quite so easily dissipate. The fact that there was no final
confrontation with the Doctor suggests that there is more to come from the
robed figures. As it stands they are shrouded in mystery and unanswered
questions. We were given some limited information from Missy, enough for Bill
and the Doctor to know how to defeat them, but apart from that little else.
Exactly what powers do they possess – how for instance did they cure the Doctor of his blindness? What is their planet of origin? Why do they require love and consent? How is their society structured? What did they want with the Earth anyway?
Not every villain needs to be explained in detail – with the unseen creature in Midnight and the monster (or non-monster) under the blanket in Listen, being prime examples of the less is more maxim, but the Monks are sufficiently well foregrounded to make necessary a degree of unpacking beyond what we have already been given.
It was a similar story in the case of the Silence, whose true nature and function was held back until Matt Smith’s final episode, The Time of the Doctor. With Moffat leaving after the Christmas Special, it would be a major surprise if the Monks didn’t feature either then or as part of the series 10 finale.